Prayers

Does God always answer prayer? The Short answer is yes. 

Does God always answer prayer? The answer is yes but here is something to remember. God does not always answer our prayers the way we think they should be answered, which leads us to think that God is not  listening or He simply is ignoring us. There are three ways that God answers prayer.

Yes
No
Waite 
He always answers. Billy Graham once put it this way. “Wrong motives: Asking for selfish reasons unconfessed sin can block answers.”

Spiritual Growth tool: one of the things I look at is God trying to teach me and to learn to rely on Him more. God’s timing is always perfect. He does things in His time not ours.

 Here are some things that Scripture addresses in regard to prayers.

In Matthew 26:39: Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane. “ Father, if it is your will allow this cup to pass from me, but nevertheless not what I want but what you want.” Jesus was obedient even unto death on the cross.
In Second Corinthians 12:7-10: Paul prayed three different times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed. God answered, “ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
In Second Samuel 12:15-23: David prayed for the life of His child with Bathsheba, but the child died. 
David in the Psalms 22:2 ( David cries,”My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer.” David also expresses in the 88 Psalm the deep anguish over God’s silence. When we have unconfessed sin in our lives it is hard to hear the voice of God. Back in 1995 my dad was very ill and I had people and churches praying for him to be healed. For many weeks I would kneel by his bed and pray for him and ask God to heal Him.  After 7 weeks God took him home and a dear friend reminded me of what she had told me weeks before; sometimes in order for God to make someone better he has to call them to Himself so he can be made perfectly whole. Did God answer the prayers of so many? Yes beyond a shadow of a doubt God healed him just not in the way that I hoped and prayed that He would. God is still there and I have learned that when I do not feel the presence of God, it is not He who has moved it is me. He is still right where he always was. Two Scriptures that I hold on to in difficult times. The First is “that everything works together for my good if I trust Him. No matter what happens in my life God is still there and He is still in control. The second thing I hold on to is to  remember to “Trust in the Lord with all of my heart, all of my mind and all of soul and not to rely on my own understanding and He will direct my path.” There are a couple of books by one of my favorite Authors Steve W. Brown one of them is titled :When your rope breaks, the next is No More Mr. Nice guy, If God is in charge….

What is He like?
Why Do I Hurt So Much?
Then I am Responsible to Him
Then I am Free
Then I can Risk
Then I can Question
Then I Can Dream
The Last book that I would recommend by Steve is Living Free. Steve is not just a writer or a radio personality that is on daily, he is also a dear friend that I have gone to in times of great need in my life, ministry. I hope this helps!  Please remember that you are prayed for every day. I pray that God will give you peace that passes every understanding. Compared to the magnitude of God everything is the size of a grasshopper.

Blessings,Warren